Life On Biosphere 2

By Savannah Cox

Published June 8, 2014

Updated September 18, 2014

Is there life on other planets? Maybe, maybe not. But is there life on an other worldly closed system in the middle of Arizona? Absolutely. Or, well, at least there was. Beginning at the tail end of the 20th century, researchers squeezed a rain forest, ocean, coral reef, wetlands, grasslands and deserts into this steel structure, which was intended to study the interactions between different life systems. Researchers would spend years of their lives sealed away from humanity in the Biosphere, but after years of managerial conflict, the site’s future is uncertain. Read more about one of the researchers, Jane Poynter, at TED.